Embedded Files
Problem
Students were struggling to think critically about texts in class as well as analyze people, fictional or real. I wanted them to practice delving deeper into character analysis by placing themselves into the character’s shoes to think deeply about how the person sees themself, how other people view them, and where they fit into society.
Hypothesis
If students are struggling to analyze text on their own, then we must provide them with the strategies they need in order to look more deeply into character analysis that will be measured through writing and creativity.
Target group
10th grade ELA were my target group because they struggled with thinking critically about a text and analyzing characters. I wanted them to naturally dig deeper into analyzing the details of a character and connecting those details to gain a better understanding of how a character sees themself, how others see them, and where they fit into the world as a whole.
Planning & resources
Teacher Made Materials
Data collection
Data collection
Baseline data
The baseline data stems from class work where students had to analyze a person based on their article where they spoke about the trials and tribulations of being an immigrant in the United States. Students were asked to annotate their given article for examples of expectations the narrator had of America vs. what they experienced in reality. The students struggled with analyzing people and coming up with words to describe individuals and how they see themselves or feel they fit into society. Students struggled a lot with this task and had a hard time even coming up with adjectives to describe the person in their article’ s feelings or expectations of the United States. They were only surface reading and not thinking deeply about what the person was saying or describing in the article.
Measuring success
I measured success based off of how well students were able to analyze a character based off of the reading. They were able to think about a character of choice and come up with words, phrases, images, symbols, and quotes that represent them. This required students to think about a character deeply and provide evidence as to why they chose that particular quote or word to represent them. Most students who completed it received a 3 or a 4 on it that was based on the rubric that was given to them.
Overall findings & impact
I do believe it was successful because the majority of students who completed it did well, scoring around a 3 or 4 in the Narrative Writing and Physical Manifestation standards. I would probably have more class time to them completing the mind mirror in class, as opposed to having many of them finish at home.
I do see that students have grown since this character analysis tool and seem to analyze people and characters more easily in class. I think this resource helps students dive deep into what we think of an individual and how the real or imagined person also sees themselves.
Student Work Examples
Learning Target: I can analyze a character from The Book of Unknown Americans by creating a Mind Mirror in order to better understand how people see themselves, how others see them, and where they fit into society.
Actionable steps
If you want to use this strategy in your classroom, I recommend …
Provide students with models and examples of mind mirrors from perhaps a different content area to let them see how simple or elaborate one can be to represent a person, fictional or non-fictional.
Set aside two to three days to work on the Mind Mirror, as you need one day for them to ‘brainstorm’ who they would like to do and find their quotes and words. I created a brainstorm sheet for them to use and assure they have all the components that they would also be graded on.
It also helps if students take notes ahead of time on the book, article, or person you want them to potentially create a mind mirror on. I also had students use a note catcher that helped them keep track of all the main characters in The Book of Unknown Americans, which made narrowing down which character they wanted to focus on easier.
Madeehah Shaheed | madeehah.shaheed@uamaker.nyc
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